The Israeli government on Tuesday accused the UN agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa) of being “fundamentally undermined” mainly by letting the Islamist movement Hamas “use its infrastructure” to carry out its military activities and “hide terrorists”.

The agency, whose employees Israel accuses of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack, “hired terrorists en masse” among its 13,000 employees in Gaza and “relied on Hamas to distribute aid,” administration spokesman Eilon Levi said in a statement. video.

“Almost 10 percent” of the workers are members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the other major Islamist movement in Gaza, and “almost 50 percent are first-degree relatives of those members,” he said.

Levy did not provide evidence to support these allegations, which AFP was unable to verify.

Unrwa, a key player for millions of Palestinians since it was founded in 1949, “is not neutral,” Levy said.

The agency, the majority of whose workers in Gaza are Palestinians, is in turmoil following the accusations against it by Israel, shortly after the ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Following South Africa’s appeal, the International Court of Justice in The Hague asked Israel to prevent possible acts of “genocide” and to “take immediate measures” to provide the “humanitarian aid that the Palestinians urgently need” in the Gaza Strip.

Unrwa said it had removed more than a dozen of its employees accused based on information provided by Israel and had begun an investigation. The United States immediately suspended funding to UNRWA, followed by a series of countries including Germany, Australia, Italy, Finland and Britain.